Former Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said that several seniors quit on the team during a disappointing 2012 season. / April L Brown, AP

by Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports

by Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports

This should not come as a surprise, not after Arkansas stumbled from a national championship contender to a team that loses at home to a Sun Belt opponent en route to an eight-loss finish.

But former Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino, the new coach at Idaho â?? and brother of Bobby Petrino, the former Arkansas coach who was relieved of his duties last April â?? said that a few upperclassmen on the 2012 team mailed it in during what seemed like a lost season.

"There were some seniors who kind of hung it up, to be honest with you," Petrino told Steve Greenberg of Sporting News. "They were going to worry about their futures more than that team. A couple seniors said they were hurt and I don't know if they really were."

"The same guys who sacrificed their time and freedom. The same guys who gave their blood sweat and tears for that hog on the side of that helmet. The same guys who skipped an opportunity of a life time by not entering the draft and came back knowing the risk. The same guys that battled to get a win in the liberty bowl in the freezing cold. The same guys that battled to get the schools first BCS birth in the Sugar Bowl. The same guys that fought and won the Cotton Bowl. These same guys quit on one of the most anticipated seasons in Arkansas history?! I don't think so. Not these guys. Not my guys. #HAWG 4 LIFE"

A quick timeline to refresh your memory: Arkansas ends the 2011 season with a 29-16 win over Kansas State; in 2010, the Razorbacks reached the Sugar Bowl before losing 31-26 to Ohio State. Several stars off the 2011 team return, including quarterback Tyler Wilson.

In April, Petrino lies about a motorcycle accident and about the relationship he had with his passenger, Jessica Dorrell, a staffer in Arkansas' football offices. He was fired and replaced by John L. Smith, who was given a 10-month contract.

That was a mistake, both Petrino and former Arkansas defensive coordinator Paul Haynes told Greenberg.

Said Haynes:

"Even if they had a plan to get rid of us no matter what, which I think they did, you say two years and I think the kids dig in. When you give 10 months, everyone is on eggshells."

Smith echoed Petrino's point. "If a kid's hurt, he's hurt. Could some of the guys that were hurt have played with those injuries and continued on? That's up to those guys," he said to Greenberg.

Haynes took a more realistic view. Why would the players care â?? seniors in particular â?? when the team and the program faced such an uncertain future?

"I really don't fault them, to be honest with you. I don't fault the kids for thinking that way. Again, there was no stability there. Again, it goes back to, 'Who am I playing for?' Once they can't say, 'We're trying to save the coaches' jobs'-if they're just playing for the university, sometimes kids feel the university let them down."

For Arkansas, stability comes in the body of Bret Bielema, who joined the program after leading Wisconsin to three Rose Bowls in a row. But the remarks from Petrino, Haynes and Smith raise a question: Beyond rebuilding Arkansas' talent level, what sort of work will Bielema have to do rebuilding the team's confidence?